Feargal Quinn (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister. It is good to see him again. To have a cousin in the Cabinet gives me a certain amount of confidence, although I do not necessarily get to use it on that basis. Last week, my 22-year-old granddaughter graduated from Shanghai University and last Thursday, she spoke to the 600 graduates at her masters ceremony. I am rather pleased that Irish and European students - my granddaughter is more French than Irish - are expanding into that part of the world, and we should encourage them to do so. I welcome the Bill, which will allow certain educational establishments in the State to call themselves universities outside the State. It will set the conditions for strong Irish educational brands to expand outside the State.

Irish university brands have been relatively slow to exploit their names and to expand abroad. It is very welcome that UCD plans to open a campus in China in a very short space of time. I have been involved with UCD's Institute of Food and Health for a few years and it has had a very close relationship with the Chinese Agricultural University. The regard with which the institute is held and the close relationship is worthy of recognition. Is there a Government policy on Irish universities using their brands abroad? While it may seem lucrative to expand abroad with incentives from foreign governments, what will happen when the cash dries up? Will the Irish taxpayer have to foot the bill? Do we have a strategy to cover such eventualities?

As in all businesses, proper planning will give better protection to the State, taxpayer and university. While there has been a major rush among universities to expand abroad in recent years, they must be very careful. Investing heavily in physical campuses when online education is growing by the day is something that should be considered very carefully. The US Duke University has experienced a delay of two years in opening its campus in China due to construction delays while other American universities in China have experienced major problems recruiting students. Such projects must be considered from a business perspective, not just as a means of projecting a university's image or brand abroad. There may be over-saturation, as some figures estimate that there are 200 international branch campuses which have massively increased in the past number of years, mostly in the Middle East and China. That is a huge number.

One of the major problems foreign campuses have is quality control. There are usually fewer courses on offer and the big name academics are often absent or fly in for just a few days. Sometimes the students are of lesser quality, given that they come from a developing education system. In the context of the Bill, could a foreign campus of an Irish university decrease the university's overall rating? A decrease in its rating would have a major impact on an Irish university's ability to attract the best students.

Do students in foreign campuses have the same rights to speak their minds? We all know certain countries where university campuses may be established do not have the same freedoms. How do we reconcile this with academic research and the ethos of questioning? If there are infringements in how the university conducts its business, would Irish law be applicable? I am not sure. Could Irish law be enforced in an Irish university campus in China?

While I support what the Minister is doing, I would like to ensure we have asked certain questions and talked our way through them. I have great confidence in what the Minister is doing and it will be very worthy of success in the years ahead.